Kansas City’s Blessed Broke has a beautifully crafted American Gothic sound. Ladders Out of Purgatory is the band’s second album. This is music at once dark and lovely. Singer and songwriter Brian Frame is something of a sad bastard—not of the sparkling pop Elliott Smith variety—but more from the Woven Hand, or Bill Callahan school of glum. But his songs, while all characterized by a mid-tempo andante, are nonetheless appealing, and the band’s playing is at once sanguine and austere.

Frame’s lyrics are not as detailed as Townes Van Zandt’s (a clear inspiration), nor is his singing as enunciated, but in mood and tone he’s clearly taken succor from Townes. And like a Jay Farrar without the faux Walker Evans sepia tone sound, his world-weary vocals suit the resignation of his lyrics. “The Stain” opens Purgatory with these representative lines: “We were all waiting in line to get a little blood on our hands.” And in that line the listener remains.

Five of Purgatory’s nine songs feature the full band, while four are Frame’s solo vehicles. But rather than sounding like a half-finished record, Purgatory reminds of Mark Kozelek’s Sun Kil Moon recordings; the full band tracks simply sound like expansions of Frame’s solo visions, expanding the songs’ musicality while sustaining the contained, melancholy moods, which rarely lift. From the “just a small shot to kill the pain” of “Black Spring,” to the slightly more eros-driven likes of “Moriah’s Eyes,” Frame’s songs are melancholy devils. After all, as the album’s closer expresses, Frames has a “Helpless Heart.”

Frame and guitarist Andrew Luker anchor the band, having worked together for several years. Luker’s dobro work is the band’s chief ornamentation; he gives Frame’s songs just the right high, lonesome embellishment. Betse Ellis joined on bass just before these sessions. She’s known from bands like The Wilders for her soaring violin work. Her bass playing fits perfectly with drummer Matt Richey; together they lock in like Charlie McCoy and Kenny Buttrey, respectively, on Dylan’s fabled John Wesley Harding.

The band’s vitality would be enhanced by a little more variety in tempo. Sometimes the melancholy thud of The Blessed Broke’s music can be relentless. But credit them for sustaining tension and mood. With quality material and beautiful playing, Brian Frame and The Blessed Broke engage us fully, however somber the fare they serve on Ladders Out of Purgatory.

--Steve Wilson

Be sure to catch The Blessed Broke this Saturday at The Ship, 1217 Union Ave, in the West Bottoms. Facebook event page.

&amp;lt;a href="http://theblessedbroke.bandcamp.com/album/ladders-out-of-purgatory"&amp;gt;Ladders Out of Purgatory by The Blessed Broke&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Last Monday about 20 to 30 hearty souls braved the cold and the coming snowstorm to go down to the Crossroads and celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of that uniquely Kansas City jam of American music, the Rural Grit Happy Hour.

The Rural Grit Happy Hour started in the winter of 1999 as Brother Ike's Rural Grit Happy Hour ("Brother Ike" being frontman Ike Sheldon of The Wilders), and it was held on Monday evenings at the Grand Emporium. I worked at that fine establishment back then, and when the word spread through the musical community that Roger Naber had sold the bar, the most frequent question I got from people out in the community, wherever I went, was "what will happen to Rural Grit?" asked by people who were genuinely, painfully concerned.

After the Grand Emporium, the Rural Grit Happy Hour found a home at Mike's Tavern, the bar across Troost from Rockhurst University, where I learned a new definition of "awkward.” While my son and my money were going to Rockhurst, I walked into a Rural Grit one night to find a former colleague from the GE happily serving my minor son while he tapped his foot and bobbed his head in time to the music. Eventually, he felt the daggers I was staring at him and turned slowly to see me standing there cross-armed and fuming. He closed his tab and beat a hasty retreat across the street to his dorm.

A few years later, it was my turn to ask "what happened to Rural Grit?" with genuine concern, when that same son, now living in a house a couple of blocks from Mike's, told me in a satisfied tone, that the bar had closed. "Don't worry Mom. It moved to The Brick, and the Brick isn't going anywhere. It'll be there forever."

Here's hoping, because looking at the slideshow of fifteen years of Rural Grit on Monday night, I sure did get nostalgic for those Mondays gone by.

The Rural Grit Happy Hour happens every Monday from 6-9 p.m. at The Brick. Old Sound will be the featured artist at tomorrow’s show. If Mondays don’t work for you, you can catch the Rural Grit All-Stars at Halfway To Winfield 2014 at Knuckleheads on Saturday, March 15. Facebook event page. Purchase tickets online.

David George has amassed an all-star team of Kansas City musicians to be a part of his Christmas single “Tonight’s Child,” which is released today.

The composition, originally written by George for his niece and nephew, also features Shay Estes on vocals, along with Johnny Hamil (upright bass), Giuliano Mingucci (drums), Mark Lowrey (piano), Betse Ellis (violin), Ben Byard (viola), and Christine Gross (cello). String arranged by Ellis. The song was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Duane Trower at Weights and Measures Soundlab.

The single is available for $1 through Bandcamp. All proceeds until Christmas will go to the Coats For Kids Foundation.

Next Sunday, December 15, George and friends will take over recordBar for a benefit show for Coats For Kids. The show will kick off at 7 p.m. with A Crooked Quartet (Gross, Ellis, Hamil, Byard) and vocalist Melissa Bollman. At 8:00, The Crooked Christmas Band will perform a few holiday songs. David George & A Crooked Mile will hit the stage at 9:00. Tickets are $10 adv/$15 day of, half-price with the donation of a new or used coat. Facebook event page.

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://davidgeorge.bandcamp.com/track/tonights-child"&amp;amp;gt;Tonight&amp;amp;amp;#39;s Child by David George (featuring Shay Estes)&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;

Another Murder Ballad Ball has come and gone, leaving a ghostly smile playing about the lips of those who attended that will be a source of puzzlement well in the coming week to those we come in contact who didn't attend.

Saturdaynight, The Verdict, was seven hours of music by some of Kansas City's best musicians performing at The Living Room Theater. The music got started at 6:00 with A.J. Gaither doing a one-man set playing his homemade cigar box guitars and a kick bass, doing mostly original material, except that gospel number he snuck in there because hey, the crucifixion is the most famous murder of 'em all, right?

Next up was perennial KC bluegrass favorite Loaded Goat, romping through a five-song set that had the crowd that was starting to trickle in and fill up the place on their feet and dancing from the first notes of “John Hardy” to the final notes of “Six Feet Down.”

Next up was David George and cellist Christine Gross doing a stripped-down six-song set of Crooked Mile tunes that had the crowd that was ready to ride off and rob the Glendale Train with Loaded Goat a few minutes before paying rapt attention so as not to miss any of his subtle turns of songwriting phrase.

The fourth act of the night was Damon Parker who did a solo-set—just him and his electric piano—reminiscent of Dr. John and New Orleans. His rendition of “Seven Spanish Angels” gave me goosebumps, and the strains of “Night Train” hung in the room long after he had left the stage and the next act was setting up.

Mikal Shapiro put together an all-star ensemble for her set, with the one-and-only Betse Ellis on bass, Amy Farrand on drums, and Chad Brothers on lead guitar. Her set opened with a version of “You Are My Sunshine” that my Nana never sang to me, moved into her original song “Technicolor,” followed by “Dublin Reds,”(her interpretation of Townes Van Zant's “Dublin Blues”)and they finished their set with the timeless Leonard Cohen classic “The Future.” Here's hoping we see more of this project in the new year—these musicians just jell when they come together. Each and every one of them is absolutely fabulous in their own right, but never has the phrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” been more fitting.

Anthony Ladesich—Kansas City's answer to Steve Earle—was up next, and he played seven original songs, each one a narrative, and each one a true murder ballad. His set started with “To Vanish and Fade,” a haunting tale of a man who kills the banker who comes to foreclose on his home, then segued into the even more haunting “Down Bellfontaine,” about a serial killer stalking and murdering his first victim. The tune that stuck in my head was “In the Cut”: “we'll get in quick and get out quicker, we'll get high when we get done” about two guys who rob a liquor store, but it's a double cross, and one of them kills the other one—but he got high when he got done.

Kasey Rausch, who never disappoints, delivered a knock-out set with alternating supporting musicians. Her first song was “I Used to Love Her,” sang with her sister Kim Rausch McLaws; the sisters delivered some of the tightest harmonies you'll ever hear this side of the Ryman. She finished her set with the Rural Grit All-Stars doing another superb rendition of “Seven Spanish Angels.”

The Rural Grit All-Stars have been holding the fans of roots music in thrall for years. I worked for Roger Naber at the Grand Emporium when the Rural Grit Happy Hour got started, and when the news spread through the music community that he had sold the bar, the most common question I got was, “What's going to happen to Rural Grit?” (It has had a couple of homes since then, but it's still going strong, Monday nights from 6:00-9:00 at The Brick, and the cover is still only three bucks.) The All Stars performed their own set, and its various members performed with other acts throughout the night, especially Betse Ellis. She was, without a doubt, on the stage more than anyone else. It seemed like she played with more acts than she didn't; this is not a complaint, it is simply an observation, smug and self-satisfied in a my-town-is-better-than-your-town-for-live-music sort of way.

The Silver Maggies are always great, and always loud, and Saturday night was no exception. They brought their “A” game to the Ball and crushed it with a wall of sound.

The Philistines were the penultimate act, kicking their set off with the original number “Stygia,” then following it with a few covers, the first one ‘80s college-rock classic by Adam & The Ants, “Killer in the Home.” That was followed by Neil Young's “Revolution Blues.”Cody Wyoming and Kimberly Queen, the couple that makes up the beating heart of The Philistines, are huge fans of ‘80s college rock, and they went back to that well for “Killing and Arab”by The Cure, and finished the set with “Para” by Calexico.

Since Murder Ballad Ball is the brainchild of Cadillac Flambe (pictured above)frontman Kristopher Bruders, they took the stage last and played until closing time, holding the rapt attention of the die-hards who were still hanging in there at 12:30. Once they got the technical issues with the piano resolved, they blew the roof off the joint. Havilah Bruders has a voice so powerful it can make the hair on the back of your neck stand up when she belts out a murder ballad, and no drummer has ever had more fun with a kit than Michael Payne, but bassist Dave Duly gives him a run for his money. For all intents and purposes, when they're playing, the Cadillac Flambe rhythm section is like kids at recess.

Much appreciation to The Living Room Theater for the use of the space and to their staff for putting up with a bunch of rowdy music fans, to the tireless efforts of both Rhonda Lyne and Sondra Freeman who work non-stop to make sure every Midwest Music Foundation event comes together seamlessly, to all the vendors who donated items for the raffles and silent auction, and to the talent for showing up and entertaining us and bringing us together for such a good cause...the health and well being of Kansas City musicians. As I like to say, before the country had Obamacare, KC's musicians had Abby Care.

On any given night in KC or Lawrence, there are bands playing to groups of varying sizes and intensity levels. Some of the audience is on its feet dancing. Some of them have their noses stuck in their electronic habitats. People order a few drinks at the bar during a quiet song, maybe smoke a cigarette between songs. The Friday night kick-off party of Apocalypse Meow 6 was one of those rare nights when the audience unified to experience and be captivated by the music.

This is the first Apocalypse Meow show since the death of Abigail Henderson, who—along with friends and husband Chris Meck—founded Midwest Music Foundation after friends held a benefit for Henderson when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. On Friday, Meck debuted his trio The Guilty Birds (pictured above), the first project without his wife since they began 10 years ago in Trouble Junction, and his very first project as primary singer/songwriter.

The trio (including Tiny Horse members Zach Phillips and Matt Richey) played a short but poignant rock/soul-infused set, while a packed crowd locked eyes and ears to draw in each note; to admire the musicianship, the ability, the fire, the obstacles and the affirming end result; to feel the anguish of a noticeable absence, but to honor and celebrate its legacy. The Silver Maggies kept the audience at attention with dark Americana propelled by intelligent songwriting. Hundreds of raffle tickets for Meck’s custom-built (with assistance from Phillips, Chris Wagner, and Paul Marchman) Fender Telecaster were purchased on Friday alone, and that spirit of generosity graciously carried into Saturday evening.

With a larger-capacity venue at Knuckleheads, eleven bands/solo performers commandeered the indoor and outdoor stages on night two. She’s A Keeper began by grabbing and enveloping the filtering-in crowd with its brand of colossal folk rock. The entrancing, aggressive outlaw blues of the duo Freight Train & Rabbit Killer (pictured below)demanded attention with its minimalistic setup, menacing costumes, and otherworldly presence. Meanwhile, the acoustic stage was occupied by a few KC music legends, all of whom were dear friends of Henderson’s. This connection translated into each musician’s cathartic sound, beginning with heartstring-pulling stories from Tony Ladesich (pictured below). Betse Ellis followed (and guest starred with the other acoustic stage performers later) with a fierce fiddle that could have sliced through any act on the main stage.

As the evening grew colder, warm bodies migrated toward the front and moved their hips to power trio Not A Planet (pictured below), pushed by the dynamic rhythm section of Liam Sumnicht and Bill Surges and steered by Nathan Corsi’s steady, pitch-perfect vocals. And no matter which stage you chose or floated to and from, each remaining act performed with no shortage of moxie. Howard Iceberg—KC’s answer to Bob Dylan—played a quiet but potent, storied set that included a duet performance with Michelle Sanders, a dulcet complement to Iceberg’s earnestly gruff voice. Federation of Horsepower frontman Gregg Todt (pictured below with Ellis) traded in his distorted axe for to round out the acoustic stage with a bluesy soul tone.

The second half of main stage featured three acts with female powerhouses at the forefront. The Latenight Callers’ Julie Berndsen allured the crowd with a coy sensuality that developed into a fiery, lascivious character, enhanced by the band’s electrifying, mammoth noir sounds. The Philistines continued in that same vein of ferocity from Kimberely Queen, whose appropriately unbridled theatrics amplified the band’s barbaric psychedelic rock sounds. The musical climax came when Sister Mary Rotten Crotch (pictured below)was welcomed to the stage right after Meck’s guitar was raffled off and subsequently auctioned (Artie Scholes, the raffle winner and also owner of The 403 Club, gave the guitar back to MMF for this purpose) to the highest bidder. But outside of this positive gesture and outside of the fact that many fans had been waiting for Sister Mary to take the stage again (the band’s last performance before taking a five-year hiatus was Apocalypse Meow 1 in ’08, and they only recently reunited to play a couple weeks before), frontwoman Liz Spillman Nord injected the hungry audience with an acrimonious punk vitriol. The veteran band showed old and new fans alike that they still pack a mean, purposeful rock punch and they still don’t give a fuck what you think.

Midwest Music Foundation and Abby's Fund for Musicians' Health Care made $12,000 at Apocalypse Meow this year, thanks to the efforts of all that were in attendance or made a donation of time, money, and/or resources. And though it was impossible for each moment of Meow weekend to have been as uninterrupted and uplifting as its inaugural set was, a sense of community was felt by each attendee and volunteer/staff member, each auction bid, each raffle ticket that fell into each bucket, each embrace or tear shed, each note or beat played.

On behalf of Midwest Music Foundation and The Deli Magazine—Kansas City, we thank you for your support of local music and those who work to make it happen. We thank you for honoring Abigail and helping us continue to carry on her legacy.

The Deli Magazine was born in NYC's Attorney Street in 2004, in the shape of a print issue with a then unknown band on its cover, called Grizzly Bear. Ths NYC blog came in 2005, then the SF one in 2006, and then 9 more in the following years. The Deli is focused on the coverage of emerging bands and solo artists with a 100% local focus - no exceptions!